Antiwar/Antimilitarism

Brian Terrell (on the left in the picture), a co-coordinator of WNPJ member group Voices for Creative Nonviolence, has been sentenced to six months in prison for a nonviolent protest of drone warfare that took place last April.

Brian and other protesters -- including Mark Kenney, who is serving four months, and Ron Faust, who is on probation -- took part in a peaceful action at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri because the base controls lethal predator drones that bomb communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his statement during the sentencing hearing, Brian asked, "How to speak of an appropriate sentence where no crime has been committed? No crime committed, at least, by the defendants? Last month’s trial in this courtroom concerning a protest of killer drones flown from Whiteman Air Force Base left no doubt that this is the case."

From Seattle to Charlottesville to Milwaukee, local communities are demanding a shift away from runaway war and weapons spending, freeing up our resources to meet our urgent community needs.

Let's make Dane County the next region to demand that we Bring Our War $$ Home!

Speaking at the peace rally in Madison October 6th, marking the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Dane County Board Supervisor Kyle Richmond (pictured, left) said he intends to introduce a BOW$H resolution later this month.

We need your help to make sure it passes!

To get involved, contact the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at (608) 250-9240 or diane@wnpj.org. To contact the Dane County Board in support of Bring Our War $$ Home, see www.countyofdane.com/board.

What better way to make clear the obscene level of U.S. war and weapons spending, than to put it into perspective -- comparing it with both other countries' military budgets and with unmet needs in your own community?

On September 25, the Milwaukee city council unanimously passed a resolution "urging federal authorities to redirect spending priorities and resources from military operations in foreign countries to domestic programs including housing, health care, education and veterans support," reports WPR.

Among many other jarring facts about U.S. war and military spending, the Milwaukee resolution points out that Pentagon spending could be cut by 80% and still be the largest military budget in the world.

The resolution was suggested by WNPJ member group Peace Action Wisconsin, whose "Move the Money" campaign links runaway war spending to unmet community needs. It's the first - but likely not the last - such resolution to be considered in Wisconsin.

More information can be found on our Bring Our War $$ Home page. If you're interested in proposing a similar resolution to your school board, union council, city council or county board, please contact us at (608) 250-9240 or diane@wnpj.org.

Joy First explained, "We were arrested by the Juneau County Sheriff just inside the gates of the base on April 24 after peacefully walking onto the base to hand deliver a letter to base commander, Col. Gary Ebben. We have been vigiling at the base monthly since December 2012, and sending letters to Col. Ebben stating our urgent concern about the training they are doing in operating Shadow drones. Our letters have been ignored and so on April 24 we decided to try to hand deliver a letter. We were arrested, handcuffed, and transported to Mauston, the county seat of Juneau County. There we were processed and charged with criminal disorderly conduct and released."

August 6th is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, an attack that killed nearly 200,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians. An estimated 200,000 additional Hiroshima residents died in the years to follow from cancer caused by the radiation from the bomb. On August 9th, the U.S. bombed the city of Nagasaki, killing nearly 100,000 more. Each year, people around the world mark Hiroshima day as a day to remember the horrific effects of the atomic bomb, and to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Four Wisconsin cities - Milwaukee, Lacross, Dodgeville and Madison - will be joining in these solemn remembrances with "Lanterns for Peace" events. Details below... (Photo: Marc Becker.)